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Monday, December 20, 2010

Ending on a High Note

Here we go, third time’s a charm, hopefully the computer wont crash this time… California has produced some interesting 2 year old, soon to be 3 year old horse in that past weeks. Turbulent Descent (Congrats) stamped herself as an interesting prospect moving forward. She is the first horse to win the Moccasin Stakes(7f), and the Hollywood Starlet(8.5F). She managed to win under hand urging, and now her next test will be to try the dirt at Santa Anita. Look for her to be a leading contender in the spring Three Year Old Fillies division. Jockey David Flores is certainly high on this filly, ” I wasn’t going to take any chances and I would have hit her, but it was not needed. I just hand rode her all the way out. I just showed her the whip. It was a little more like a test today, but she won just the same. I am a little excited and a little relieved. I’m excited because I can tell what kind of horse she is. The relief is she handled the two turns well. She was relaxed and just great.”

This past weekend Comma to the Top (Bawana Charlie) made his backers and the rest of the field wait an additional 40 minutes, before capturing the Hollywood Futurity. After throwing a shoe, two blacksmiths later, the horses were finally allowed to come onto a rain drenched track. Trainer Peter Miller describes the scene, “I ran to the paddock judge and said ‘we’re missing a shoe’.” The first blacksmith came over and it was obvious he couldn’t shoe the horse. He just couldn’t do it. The other blacksmith that’s at the receiving barn checking the feet, had already left. (Trainer) Neil Drysdale then calls me and said ‘what’s going on, do you need a shoer?’ I said, ‘Yeah and he said Wes Champagne’s here. I said ‘Send him.’ So Wes Champagne came over, and the horse is so mad at this point. He was so frustrated and mad that I didn’t think he’d run. He didn’t want to be shod at that point and normally he’s the most docile, calm horse in the world. I would have shod him if I had to. Seriously, when I thought they were going to scratch him, I grabbed a shoe and started to shoe him. And then I realized, I’m not a shoer. Luckily I called Neil back and he told me Wes was on the way, and Wes came and saved the day. We would have run with one shoe, or pulled the other one off if we had to. This horse is really good.”
Being by Bawana Charlie I don’t know how far he will go, but this gelding certainly capped off a nice meeting winning 3 stakes races. The Futurity was the first win for jockey Corey Nakatani who compared Comma to the Top to other nice horses he has rode in the past, “it seems like he’s a young Lava Man. To me, he acts like it. He kicks away when you need him to and he’s a typical high cruising speed horse. That move on the turn felt great. It feels like you’re on a Ferrari. All this adversity is a plus, because he handled it like it was just another day. Right now, I’d say he’s one of the best 2-year-olds I’ve ridden.”